Trying to read negative customer reviews on Amazon.com

chic

chic

SF VIP
Location
U.S.
This is actually funny because it's so obvious. I cannot read any negative customer reviews on Amazon. I know they exist because it says so but when I tap one it tells me there are no results to display even though I can see there are 3 in one case and 5 in another but I am only allowed to read reviews written by Vine members. They are people who receive free merch from Amazon in return for writing reviews. :ROFLMAO:

It's no biggie because I don't shop at Amazon but they are great for accurately detailing the ingredients list of products where you would want that information. Then purchase from whomever you choose.

Has anyone else noticed this no negative reviews thing and are there any ways to view those reviews? Thanks!!!! :)
 

chic said:
This is actually funny because it's so obvious. I cannot read any negative customer reviews on Amazon. I know they exist because it says so but when I tap one it tells me there are no results to display even though I can see there are 3 in one case and 5 in another but I am only allowed to read reviews written by Vine members. They are people who receive free merch from Amazon in return for writing reviews. :ROFLMAO:

It's no biggie because I don't shop at Amazon but they are great for accurately detailing the ingredients list of products where you would want that information. Then purchase from whomever you choose.

Has anyone else noticed this no negative reviews thing and are there any ways to view those reviews? Thanks!!!! :)
Click to expand...
yes it annoys the heck outta me. I have been a Prime member of Amazon for years..no-one has ever asked me to be a 'Vine '' member.. however as you rightly say.. the reviews are skewed on Amazon for most things
 

I'm able to read negative as well as positive. I pretty much ignore the positive if it's from a Vine member, but if there are any I can't read, they were often those that just received a 1-star rating but no words to go with the star rating. I usually try to read some positive and negative to get a good feel for the product. I have shopped extensively at Amazon for more than 15 years now and any small issues I had were always settled immediately. No big issues at all in all those years.
 
I was about to place an order and had 3 items in my cart. The reviews are accessible by number of stars. The lowest is (1 star) and I can click on that and see the reviews.
 
hollydolly said:
yes it annoys the heck outta me. I have been a Prime member of Amazon for years..no-one has ever asked me to be a 'Vine '' member.. however as you rightly say.. the reviews are skewed on Amazon for most things
Click to expand...
I was invited last fall... I turned it down when I read the small print. Right off the bat, they wanted my SSN. Nope! I understand why they need to do that, but I didn't want to order a free $50 item and be sent a $200 instead and have to pay taxes. They need to send a 1099 for $600 or more. I don't trust the sellers to abide by what I would have wanted.
 
chic said:
Has anyone else noticed this no negative reviews thing and are there any ways to view those reviews?
Click to expand...
I have noticed, but have no solution. I believe some of them come from people who give a star rating, but write no comments... maybe. I have left 1 star reviews, always with comments. It looks to me like most of my lower reviews do appear for others to read. I have seen the same no text thing with 2 through 5 stars, but like you its the 1s I want to read. I do take the ratings into account when I buy, and like to read the comments, if they exist, but I decide how many grains of salt to take them with.
chic said:
reviews written by Vine members
Click to expand...
Only vaguely aware of this. Never been asked myself. Knowing it exists diminishes the value of the reviews, particularly the higher ones. For me anyway.
 
Last edited:
CallMeKate said:
I'm able to read negative as well as positive. I pretty much ignore the positive if it's from a Vine member, but if there are any I can't read, they were often those that just received a 1-star rating but no words to go with the star rating. I usually try to read some positive and negative to get a good feel for the product. I have shopped extensively at Amazon for more than 15 years now and any small issues I had were always settled immediately. No big issues at all in all those years.
Click to expand...

Some negative reviews seem fake to me ... like the competition trying to gain customers for their products.
Also, overly gushy good reviews make me wonder.
 
CallMeKate said:
I was invited last fall... I turned it down when I read the small print. Right off the bat, they wanted my SSN. Nope! I understand why they need to do that, but I didn't want to order a free $50 item and be sent a $200 instead and have to pay taxes. They need to send a 1099 for $600 or more. I don't trust the sellers to abide by what I would have wanted.
Click to expand...
Interesting, Kate.... I wonder how that works for UK customers because we don't have SSN's... nor do we pay taxes on higher amounts as in your example... Hmmm.. now it makes me wonder if all the ''Vine'' reviews on the UK site have been taken from the .com site... :unsure:
 
Myrtle said:
I was about to place an order and had 3 items in my cart. The reviews are accessible by number of stars. The lowest is (1 star) and I can click on that and see the reviews.
Click to expand...
Very often .. in fact more often than not now..certainly on the .co.uk site.. it will say for example... 50 5 star reviews... 20 3 star reviews 30 1 star reviews... but when we click on the 1 star reviews.. it shows 0 despite already saying there's 30 1 star reviews...this is a relatively recent thing. We used to be able to see all reviews.. now it's difficult to get to read negative reviews...
 
hollydolly said:
Interesting, Kate.... I wonder how that works for UK customers because we don't have SSN's... nor do we pay taxes on higher amounts as in your example... Hmmm.. now it makes me wonder if all the ''Vine'' reviews on the UK site have been taken from the .com site... :unsure:
Click to expand...
We are supposed to claim all income for taxes, but a 1099 isn't required unless it goes over $600. Not sure how it would work in another country. The way to be invited to Vine, as I understand from what the paperwork said, is that they watch the reviews you've written for products you've bought and they pay attention to how many people read your reviews and give a thumbs up to indicate they liked the review.
 
hollydolly said:
Very often .. in fact more often thatn not now..certainly on the .co.uk site.. it will say for example... 50 5 star reviews... 20 3 star reviews 30 1 star reviews... but when we click on the 1 star reviews.. it shows 0 despite already saying there's 30 1 star reviews...this is a reactively recent thing. WE used to be able to see all reviews.. now it's difficult to get to read negative reviews...
Click to expand...
I don't know if I'm seeing everything or just what they choose to show me, of course. All 3 of the items I checked are very popular items and only had a few negative. It was 2 kinds of cat food and some blind spot mirrors, all highly rated. I try not to buy anything that doesn't have high scores. But, I will say that online reviews have come under criticism on a lot of sites and it pays to be very careful, Amazon or not.
 
Myrtle said:
I don't know if I'm seeing everything or just what they choose to show me, of course. All 3 of the items I checked are very popular items and only had a few negative. It was 2 kinds of cat food and some blind spot mirrors, all highly rated. I try not to buy anything that doesn't have high scores. But, I will say that online reviews have come under criticism on a lot of sites and it pays to be very careful, Amazon or not.
Click to expand...
yes I'm aware.. as someone whose career was in research, I like to think I'm pretty Savvy where that type of thing is concerned, but the reality is the general joe isn't..
 
I wrote a negative Amazon review on reading glasses I bought for hubs. They fell apart the first time he wore them. The company sends me at least 2 sometimes 3 emails a week asking me to remove it. They have started offering me Monet to remove it. They're up to $45 now. I have reported them to Amazon and filed a complaint 4 times. Each time Amazon tells me they will make it stop and reminds me the seller cannot and will not pay me. Duh! I bet a lot of folks do remove their negative reviews. And the emails continue. Here is a copy of the email.

Hello，Amazon Customer.

I value your valuable time.

This letter is to do after-sales service on your order of purchased goods.

I'm sorry to hear about your negative comments about our products.

Too many apologies to say are better than giving you the most practical benefits.

Here's a link to your product review:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...f=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0BTY8QNMJ

From my perspective, we are very eager to compensate those customers who trusted us but were hurt by us.

Here is how to delete:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=16465311

I will send you a $45 Amazon gift card within 72 hours of you deleting your review.

Finally, thank you for reaching out and I sincerely want you to be productive in this conversation.

Best friend.
 
Wigglestein said:
I wrote a negative Amazon review on reading glasses I bought for hubs. They fell apart the first time he wore them. The company sends me at least 2 sometimes 3 emails a week asking me to remove it. They have started offering me Monet to remove it. They're up to $45 now. I have reported them to Amazon and filed a complaint 4 times. Each time Amazon tells me they will make it stop and reminds me the seller cannot and will not pay me. Duh! I bet a lot of folks do remove their negative reviews. And the emails continue. Here is a copy of the email.

Hello，Amazon Customer.

I value your valuable time.

This letter is to do after-sales service on your order of purchased goods.

I'm sorry to hear about your negative comments about our products.

Too many apologies to say are better than giving you the most practical benefits.

Here's a link to your product review:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...f=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0BTY8QNMJ

From my perspective, we are very eager to compensate those customers who trusted us but were hurt by us.

Here is how to delete:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=16465311

I will send you a $45 Amazon gift card within 72 hours of you deleting your review.

Finally, thank you for reaching out and I sincerely want you to be productive in this conversation.

Best friend.
Click to expand...
yes I've had one or 2 of those.. very annoying, but it just shows how deceitful some of these companies are..
 
hollydolly said:
Very often .. in fact more often than not now..certainly on the .co.uk site.. it will say for example... 50 5 star reviews... 20 3 star reviews 30 1 star reviews... but when we click on the 1 star reviews.. it shows 0 despite already saying there's 30 1 star reviews...this is a relatively recent thing. We used to be able to see all reviews.. now it's difficult to get to read negative reviews...
Click to expand...
Yup this is what happened to me. The negative reviews are there but I am not allowed to read them? What's the point of having reviews if you don't allow prospective customers to read them. It's crazy!
 
Many reviewers only select a star rating review without creating a written review. And even then most written reviews are worthless one liners. Thankfully some people today are still capable of writing coherent paragraphs. It is true that some pea brains write terse negative reviews for competitors products but usually they are obvious especially if there are several times as many comments with an opposite narrative.
 
The reviews are what I like the most about buying on Amazon, it is useful to hear others' opinions. But, I don't read any of the Vine reviews because they are almost always too uncritical, I think getting something for free must automatically add a couple stars to how a person feels about the thing.

I do have the problem of reviews not showing up when I try to select by the lower star ratings. It seems suspicious but maybe there is some valid reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top